1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector mounted on a printed circuit board to allow an electrical connection to be made between a PC card and the printed circuit board.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
Generally, in order to enhance both the miniaturization and expendability of an electronic apparatus such as a notebook type computer, various types of card connectors have been developed which connect a PC card equipped with various functions to an electronic apparatus.
Such a card connector includes a connector frame comprising a pair of guide arms with PC card insertion slots formed therein and a header section integrally joined to the guide arms and is screwed to the printed circuit board via the connector frame. In the case where a card connector has mutually stacked two headers so as to deal with PC cards of different thicknesses, these headers and guide arms are coupled together as one unit by brackets of a thin metal and it is screwed to the printed circuit board through the brackets. In either case, a slight clearance is created between the card connector and the printed circuit board.
In the recent tendency of the electronic apparatus toward its miniaturization and high-performance functioning, there may sometimes the cases where it is preferable to mount the card connector on the upper or the lower side of a printed circuit board as the necessity arises in these electronic apparatuses.
Even if, however, the card connector is mounted on either side of the printed circuit board, it is desirable that, in order to prevent any insertion error of the PC card, the polarity, that is, the surface side, of the PC card be always set in the same correct side. For this reason, where the conventional card connector is to be mounted on the other surface side of the printed circuit board, it has been necessary to perform a complex attaching operation, such as replacing an array of terminal pins in the header. If, for example, connectors and brackets of various structures corresponding to the attaching positions such as the upper or the lower side of the printed circuit board are initially prepared, more component parts are necessary and the dimensional accuracy of the card connectors are lowered through the cumulative addition of the manufacturing tolerances of the component parts.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a card connector which can be very simply and accurately mounted on either side of a printed circuit board and requires less component parts.
The card connector of the present invention solving the task of the present invention is mounted on a printed circuit board to allow a PC card to be electrically connected to the printed circuit board, comprising:
a connector frame including a header section having a plurality of terminal pins which are connected to the PC card arranged along a width direction of the PC card and a pair of opposed guide arms each extending at each side end of the header section and allowing both side edges of the PC card to be guided along an insertion/withdrawal direction of the PC card;
a plurality of pairs of mount brackets each having a body section mounted on the connector frame, a stand-off section extending from the body section and adapted to retain a predetermined distance between the connector frame and the printed circuit board, and a coupling section projected from the stand-off section into an opening of the printed circuit board and tightened by a fastening means from a side opposite to that of the printed circuit board whereby the connector frame is fixed to the printed circuit board, wherein a latch hole is provided in one of the mount bracket""s body section and connector frame and a corresponding retaining claw is provided on the other to allow an insertion into the latch hole and, through an engagement of the retaining claw with the latch hole, the respective body section is fixed to the connector frame, and, when the mount bracket is inverted, the coupling section is situated in the same corresponding position, along a width and insertion/withdrawal directions, with the stand-off position so that the printed circuit board can be mounted in any selected side of the printed circuit board.
In the card connector of the present invention, even if the mount bracket is inverted, the respective coupling section is situated in the same corresponding position along the width and insertion/withdrawal direction and, simply by changing the direction of the mount bracket, the card connector can be mounted on either side of the printed circuit board.
It is desirable that the stand-off section of the respective mount bracket have a support plate section extending from a forward end section and arranged between the connector frame and the printed circuit board and that the coupling section have a cylindrical projection projected from the support section in a direction away from the body section and have a screw hole on the inner surface. In this case, the card connector is positioned by the cylinder projection relative to the printed circuit board.
It is preferable that the header section have two header bodies of the same structure mutually stacked along the thickness direction of the PC card and that these header bodies by integrally so jointed that one end sides in the insertion/withdrawal direction of the PC card are mechanically and electrically connected to those terminal pins inserted from the same side and that the other end sides are held by the paired guide arms.
It is preferable that the card connector further comprise an ejecting mechanism mounted at the header section and be adapted to withdraw the PC card. A push rod is provided at one of the pair guide arms and is adapted to operate the ejecting mechanism in which the push rod allows a slidable guide motion of the PC card to be effected, along the insertion/withdrawal direction of the PC card. In this case, it is not necessary to provide any separate guide member for the push rod, so that component parts required can be reduced.
Further a card connector comprises a header section having an array of terminal pins connected to a PC card. A pair of opposed guide arms is provided on both sides of the header section and extends rearwardly from a rear end section of the header section and adapted to guide each side edge of the PC card in an insertion/withdrawal direction, the card connector being mounted on a printed circuit board to allow electrical connection to be achieved between the PC card and a printed circuit board, wherein the pair of guide arms have mutually the same structure and include a core section formed of a metal plater and a resin portion formed integral with the core section, each resin portion having a guide groove for guiding the side edge of the PC card. The card connector, having an integral unit of the guide arms of the same structure, is easier to manufacture and can achieve less component parts. In the case where contacting pieces extending from the core portion are projected into the guide arms, the PC card can be grounded through the contacting pieces before the PC card reaches the header section, so that it is possible to prevent a shock resulting from a greater electrostatic voltage difference.
In the case where the guide arms has at least one guiding arm projected from its resin portion and insertable into a corresponding joining hole opened at the rear end portion of the header section, they are very easily attached to, or detached from, each other. As a result, the card connector can be assembled in less manufacturing steps.
Further, a mount guide is provided for mounting, on a printed circuit board, a card connector having a connector frame including a header section having an array of terminal pins connected to a PC card and a pair of opposed guide arms extending from both side ends of the header section and adapted to guide the side edge portions of the PC card in an insertion/withdrawal direction, the mount bracket comprising:
a body section mounted on the connector frame;
a stand-off section extending from the body section and allowing a predetermined spacing to be retained between the connector frame and the printed circuit board; and
a coupling section projected from the stand-off section into an opening of the printed circuit board and adapted to be tightened by a fastening means from an opposite side of the printed circuit board, wherein the body section has four tongues latched to the connector frame, the four tongues being situated on mutually orthogonal two symmetric axes.